What If?

If you're a diehard 49ers fan, like me (not many of us here in upstate New York), you'll remember the 1998 NFC Wildcard game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. What most people remember is the ending, which has been dubbed "The Catch 2." What most people don't remember is that it was the 49ers, as well as Steve Young's, last serious chance to win a Superbowl. If Garrison Hearst doesn't break his ankle in the first drive of the next game against Atlanta, the 49ers most likely go to the Super Bowl and provide a better matchup for the eventual champion Broncos. However, the most important thing to come out of that was the birth of T.O., the ego of Terrell Owens that would leave (at this point) two teams in ruin.

Before that game, Terrell Owens was known as erratic receiver with shaky hands and great potential. Through the first 59 minutes and 52 seconds of the game, he had done nothing to dispell that notion. He dropped three passes, and had only 2 catches for 48 yards at that point. But when he caught that 25-yard game-winning touchdown in between 3 defenders, something clicked for him. He realized that he could be the very best in the game. But at the same time, he also thought that being the best meant he gets preferential treatment, the ability to do things his way, putting himself above the team. On the field, Owens' work ethic and tenacity has never been questioned. The man is a physical specimen, in ridiculously great shape. However, it's his ego that has caused him to leave two cities thus far. In San Francisco, he managed to get his longtime coach, Steve Mariucci, replaced by yes-man Dennis Erickson, a decided downgrade from Mariucci. Also, and this would become a pattern, he insulted his quarterback. On several occasions, he intimated that he wanted the ball more, and that he needed a better quarterback than Jeff Garcia. In addition, Owens questioned Garcia's masculinity, openly wondering if Garcia was gay.

In the off-season of 2004, Owens and his agent at the time bungled their chance to void their 2004 option with the 49ers, and ended up being traded to the Ravens for a 2nd-round draft pick. However, T.O., as he often does, blamed someone else (the 49ers and his agent, primarily) for his own failure. He managed to strong-arm a three-way trade of sorts, with the Ravens getting their pick back, the Eagles acquiring Owens, and the 49ers recieving a 5th-round pick and DE Brandon Whiting from the Eagles. The 49ers were happy to be rid of Owens, even though in the 2 years since removing him, their record is only 6-26.

A question that I have to ask concerning the T.O. "era" in San Francisco: what if Owens had never caught that pass from Steve Young? What if, when Young had stumbled, he had fallen to the ground and the clock had run out? What if the officials had correctly called Jerry Rice's catch earlier in that drive a fumble? Would Owens have turned out the same? Would he have destroyed the 49ers, and later the Eagles, and possibly the Cowboys? I don't think he would have. If Owens had to go into the offseason after having that miserable of a game, I believe his fragile psyche would have been shattered, causing him to become a bust, and become another tale of unrealized potential.

They say hindsight is 20/20. At the time of Owens' catch, I was delirious with joy, I was just estatic that my 49ers had won against the rival Packers. Looking back, however, was it worth it? No, the path of destruction laid by the unscrupulous T.O. outweighs the fleeting feeling from a single playoff game. I wish that Owens had dropped that pass. Football would be much better for it.